347. To Biggs and Cottle
[Addressed by D. W.] Messrs Biggs and Cottle | Printers | St Augustine's Back Bristol Single sheet
MS. Yale University Lib. Pub. A Description of the Wordsworth & Coleridge Manuscripts, by W. H. White, 1897, p. 13. The fourth and fifth manuscript sheets for vol. ii of Lyrical Ballads contain sixteen poems in Dorothy's handwriting and must have been prepared during the Wordsworths' stay at Keswick from 8 to 17 August. The address page of the fifth sheet contains Coleridge's brief memorandum and the following note by Wordsworth:
The preface is not yet ready: I shall send it in a few days. I have written to Mr Longman requesting him to inform you whether he wishes to have the 1st Vol: sent up immediately before the preface is printed, which may with as much propriety be prefixed to the 2nd Vol: -- The Title Page must stand thus
Lyrical Ballads
with other poems.
By W. Wordsworth
Quam nihil ad genium, Papiniane, tuum.
2nd Edition --
This Latin motto appears in John Selden's introductory letter to Drayton's Poly.Olbio. See The Complete Works of Michael Drayton, 1876, i, p. xlv.
Postmark: <16?> 2 August 1800. Stamped: Keswick. [Circa 18 August, 1800}
Be careful to print the motto accurately -Quam nihil ad genium, Papiniane, tuum!